president obama aimed his u.n. speech at u.s. voters to reassure them he is handling the twin middle east crises. >> the attacks of the last two weeks are not simply an assault on america. >> reporter: chrrisis one is th attacks in libya. then the made in america anti-islam video. >> there are no words that excuse the killing. >> reporter: but he urged understanding. >> if we are serious about these ideals, we must speak about the crisis. >> reporter: crisis two is iran. still working on nuclear capability. the iran president ahmadinejad called for elimination of israel. >> make no mistake. nuclear alarm to iran is not a challenge to be contained. >> reporter: and netanyahu is pushing president obama to force. he didn't. >> we believe there is still time and space to do so. but that time is now unlimited. >> reporter: standing up for israel, but standing up to netanyahu. instead of staying here in new york to meet one-on-one with the u.n. general assembly session, president obama heads back to washington this afternoon to make cr